Free to Be You and Me

Free to Be You and Me

On my last procrastination streak, in addition to watching dozens of videos of young children singing pop songs on YouTube, I stumbled upon a gem from my childhood – all 44 minutes of ‘Free to Be… You and Me’. I don’t know how many of you watched, read or listened to ‘Free to Be,’ as kids, but for those who didn’t, it is a movie, book, and CD created in 1972 dedicated to entertaining kids without reinforcing gender stereotypes – boys are told its okay to cry, “mommies’” and “daddies’” jobs are unrelated to their gender, and princesses travel the world and remain single. I still remember my first “feminist moment” when, at age six, my jam sesh to ‘William’s Doll’ was interrupted by …

A Generation of Prosti-tots

the good old days

Last year, I worked at an after-school day care center for kids in preschool-6th grade. Basically, after a long day at school, I hauled my ass to work where for 3 hours I was surrounded by a bunch of kids who were primarily in their single digits and not only acted as though they hadn’t just been at school for 8 hours but had also shot up some 5 hour energy. Seriously, these kids were nuts.

A family friend recently sent me this article about “prosti-tots,” a catchy yet disturbing phrase, that got me thinking about my experience at work. Basically, if you think our generation is messed up, the next one has it coming.

Retro Sarah Haskins: Disney Princesses

So this long weekend I watched a lot of Disney movies, because I'm awesome, and I have to say Sarah Haskins pretty much gets it. It's a debate that we've had before, about commercials and cartoons and even videos, but one I love to have since it's a pretty basic part of most of our childhoods. Happy watching while I make up for all of my procrastination!

The Prince Is Safe Now

This morning I felt extremely lazy, so when I woke up at 11:00 I decided to turn on some cartoons. (Hey, we’re all kids at heart.) There were commercials on, but one of them was a little different than I expected:

The Disney Princesses and Sexism

I found this picture on feministing yesterday. Considering the response to my last post about Disney, I thought you guys might find this pic interesting.

I think the sexism they point out in the picture is legitimate as far as plot lines go, but statements like, “Her only asset, physical beauty…” and “her only asset, sexuality” get to me a little bit. Sure, I think Disney created some pretty sexist characters here. But they weren’t exactly dumb bimbos who acted without any purpose throughout the entirety of the movies.

As I recall, I actually identified with Belle quite a bit because we were both voracious readers. I’d say an appetite for literature is a pretty good asset to have. And Jasmine was totally empowered by demanding to marry only who …

Forget Those Toolkits, Ladies: He’s Broken

I’m hangin’ out, watching TV, and as I flip channels I just happened to come across the season premiere of the TV Show Tool Academy.

I’ve always had issues respecting the people who go on these kinds of shows. I mean, if you’re going to go on TV, why not go through the trouble of trying to improve yourself or to break up with the person of your own volition?

Earlier this year, VH1 struck a blow for frustrated girlfriends everywhere by taking nine of America’s most arrogant, dishonest, selfish and unfaithful boyfriends and enrolling them in the one place that could reform them from their horrible ways, and potentially even turn them into husband material — The Tool Academy! …

“Sexism, Strength and Dominance: Masculinity in Disney Films”

oh the memories...

Here are a few videos I found about sexism and racism in Disney films.

I do want to acknowledge that YESSSS a lot of these movies were made a “long time ago.” Y’know like a couple of decades. But it’s really depressing to me that I grew up with these movies. Kids are still growing up with these movies.

Now looking back on them I have no idea how all this stuff got past me. I mean, sure, I was little, but it’s not exactly subtle. And okay, these movies are made for kids, and are therefore more “simplistic” than films made for an adult audience. But why does simplicity have to mean relying on stereotypes used by people who think simply? I think kids can handle …